Recent tsunami disasters caused devastating damages to well-engineered coastal infrastructures. In fact, the current design guidelines are not able to provide realistic estimations of tsunami loads in order to design structures to withstand tsunamis. Tsunami hydrodynamic forces are estimated using the drag coefficient. This coefficient is traditionally calculated based on a steady flow analogy. However, tsunami bores behave like unsteady flows. The present work aims at investigating the tsunami forces for different structure geometries to provide realistic guidelines to estimate drag coefficients considering unsteady flows. In the present paper, the dam-break approach is used to investigate the tsunami-like bore interaction with structures. A three-dimensional multiphase numerical model is implemented to study the tsunami induced forces on rectangular shape structures with various aspect ratios (width/depth) and orientations. The numerical model results are validated using measured forces and bore surface elevations of the physical experiments. A scaled-up domain is modeled in order to eliminate the effects of domain sidewalls in the simulation results. The drag coefficient relations with structure geometries and bore depths are provided. The obtained hydrodynamic forces and drag coefficients are compared with existing data in the literature and design codes. For the second topic, a multi-phase three-dimensional numerical reproduction of a large scale laboratory experiment of tsunami-like bores interaction with a surface-piercing circular column is presented. The numerical simulation is conducted in OpenFOAM. The dam-break mechanism is implemented in order to generate tsunami-like bores. The numerical model is validated using the experimental results performed at Canadian Hydraulics Center of the National Research Council (NRC-CHC) in Ottawa. The unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) are used in order to treat the turbulence effects. The Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model showed high level of accuracy in replication of the bore-structure interaction. Further, a scaled-up domain is used to investigate the influence of the bed condition in terms of various downstream depths and roughness. Finally, a broad investigation on the bore propagation characteristics is performed. The resulting stream-wise forces exerted on the structural column as well as the bore velocity are compared and analyzed for smooth, rough, dry and wet beds with varying depths.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:03:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Christine Garrido Marquez.pdf: 3277601 bytes, checksum: e27c6b29c8e0951b47d16d9bbfeb2287 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-31 / Eight reinforced concrete square flat slabs of reinforced concrete were tested. Slabs were 130mm thick with an 1800 mm side and were submitted to central loading, and the objective was to investigate the influence of column rectangularity coefficient. Column cross section dimensions (cmáx/cmín) varyied between 1 and 4, with a constant perimeter equal to 1000mm. Results presented and analysed include ultimate loads and failure types, modes of rupture, vertical displacements, cracking and deformations of steel and concrete. Comparisons with codes, norms and results of literature results are also presented. The results indicate that as the rectangularity coefficient increases, punching shear resistance decreases for constant perimeter column flat slabs. Suggesting that punching shear has to be considered specially in regions close to column extremity, where there is a larger concentration of shear forces. A proposal for an inclusion of the retangularity parameter (cmáx/cmín) in expressions for calculation punching shear resistance of ACI (2002), CEB-FIP (1991), EC2 (2001) and NBR-6118 (2003) codes is presented. / São analisadas experimentalmente 8 (oito) lajes cogumelo de concreto armado quadradas com 1800 mm de lado e 130 mm de espessura, submetidas a carregamento central, com o objetivo de investigar a influência do índice de retanguralidade do pilar, sendo que a relação entre as dimensões da seção transversal do pilar (cmáx/cmín) variou entre 1 e 4, com perímetro mantido constante e igual a 1000 mm. São apresentados e analisados os resultados das cargas últimas, modos de ruptura, deslocamentos verticais, fissuração e deformações do aço e concreto. São apresentadas comparações dos resultados experimentais com códigos, normas de projeto e resultados da literatura. Os resultados indicam que à medida que aumenta o índice de retangularidade, a resistência à punção diminui, para lajes que possuem pilares com o perímetro constante. Sugerindo que o combate à punção pode ser mais efetivo em regiões próximas das extremidades dos pilares, onde há maior concentração de forças cortantes. É apresentada uma proposta de inclusão do parâmetro cmáx/cmín nas expressões de cálculo da resistência à punção do ACI (2002), CEB-FIP (1991), EC2 (2001) e NBR-6118 (2003).